Apparatus for packing hats for storage and shipment.



PATENTED JUNE 7, 1904.

L. E. STEWART. APPARATUS FOR PACKING HATS FOR STORAGE AND SHIPMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 16. 1902.

2 SHEETS-$112M 1 NO MODEL.

V 1 L V a: u i

Iwuswim. leflfl azw z ld No. 762,259. PATENTED iUNE 7, 1904.

- L. E. STEWART.

APPARATUS FOR PACKING HATS FOR STORAGE AND SHIPMENT. APPLICATION FILED AUG.16, 1902.

no MODEL; I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. UNITED STATES Patented June '7, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

LETITIA E. STEWART, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY SCHMIDT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR PACKING HATS FOR STORAGE AND SHIPMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 762,259, dated June '7, 1904.

Application filed August 16, 1902. Serial No. 119,925. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LETITIA E. STEWART, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Packing Hats for Storage and Shipment, of which the following is a specification.

lose their shape, while at the same time all of the hats will be securely held in position.

INhile my invention may be used generally in the shipment of hats from the manufacturer to the jobber, it is intended that it shall find its widest application in the packing for storage and shipment of what are known as campaign-hats, used by the soldiers in our Army. These hats are of soft felt, with a broad brim and rather high crown, and many thousands of them are kept on hand in storage-houses of the Government ready for shipment to the soldiers here and in the Philippine Islands. Owing to the fact that these hats often remain in the storehouses for many months before shipment, if they are packed so that one hat is in engagement with the other or if the hats be crushed in packing it is found that they will be discolored in the first case or permanently deprived of their shape in the second case. It is required, therefore, by the Quartermasters Department that these hats be packed in such manner that they may remain in storage an indefinite length of time without losing their shape orbecoming discolored. In order to meet this requirement, the manufacturer packs four hats in a bandbox, and a' given 7 number of these bandboxes containing hatsare placed in a wooden box and so shipped tothe place of storage. The boxes now employed are of a size to hold forty-eight hats in twelve bandboxes.

According to my invention the hats can be packed in a manner to meet all of the above icontour other than rectangular.

tom of this box is supported the lowermost partition, which consists of a sheet of cardrequirements, and a box of approximately the 5 same size as but somewhat smaller than that now employed will hold one hundred and eight hats when'so packed. It will thus be seen that by the use of my invention a great saving in storage-space and in freight can be effected.

Having thus set forth the nature and objects of my invention, I will now describe the same in detail, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which r Figure 1 is a sectional elevation, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of a box having hats packed therein according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the box, showing the lowermostpartition, having a series of collars therein for receiving the crowns of the hats. 5

Fig. 3 is a View in sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 1 is a plan view showing five hats placed in the collars of said lowermost partition. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 6 is a plan view showing a 7 layer of paper or other material provided with nine holes adapted to aline with the openings in the collars of the partition and placed over the five hats shown in Fig. 4:. Fig. 7 is a similar view showing four hats placed in the collars left vacant in Fig. 5, their brims restingon the paper or other layer shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is also a plan view, similar to Fig. 6, showing the layer of paper or other material placed over the four hats of Fig. '7. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the second partition, showing five hats placed in the collars thereof in the same manner as shown by Fig. L; and Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation of the same.

Referring nowtothe drawings, 1 indicates a wooden box rectangular in shape and of any desired size, in which the hats are to be packed.

Said box, however, may, if preferred, have a On the bot- 9 board 2, conforming to the shape and of a size to fit snugly the interior of the box 1 and provided with nine holes 3, in each one of which is fitted a strip of pasteboard, curved upon itself to form a substantiallycireular collar 4. These collars may be glued or otherwise secured in position, if desired; but ordinarily they are made to. fit in the holes 3 SO tightly that no further securing means will be found necessary. The holes 3, and consequently the collars 4, are arranged in three rows of three each, as shown by Fig. 2. and the collars at the corners and the center of the partition project a given distance-say one-half inch above the partition 2, while the remaining four collars (indicated by the numeral 5 in Fig. 4) project a slightly-greater distance above the partition. All of these collars project an equal distance below the partition, and this distance is such that when the hats are inserted in the collars their crowns will be held above the bottom of the box, as shown in Fig. 1. The first partition being placed in the bottom of the box, as shown by Fig. 3, five hats 6 are placed in the collars 4, crown downward, one hat being placed in each corner-collar and one in the center, as shown by Fig. 4. These collars project a sufiicient distance above the partition 2 to allow the edges of the rims of the hats just to touch or rest on said partition, and thus the natural shape of the rim is preserved. I next place over these hats a sheet of thick Manila paper 7 of the same size and shape as the partition 2 and having a like number of holes correspondingly arranged, and I then place four hats in the openings or collars 5, as shown by Fig. 7. The layer of paper 7 is thus interposed between the five hats shown in Fig. 4 and the four hats shown in Fig. 7, and thus all the hats in the layer are kept out of contact, as the holes 3 are far enough apart to prevent the rims of the hats engaging edgewise. The increase in height of the collars 5, before referred to, is to allow for the thickness of the brims of the first fivehats resting on the edges of the other collars, so that the brims of the four hats will be supported in their natural positions. A second sheet of paper 8, similar to that shown by Fig. 6, is then placed over the four hats of Fig. 7 as shown by Fig. 8. A second partition 9, having collars 10 arranged therein in the same manner as' the partition 2, is now placed on the layer of paper 8, and five hats are placed therein at the corner-sand center, as shown by Fig. 9. The collars 10, however, are of much less depth than the collars 4. In other words, their height is such that the crowns of the hats placed therein will enter or nest within the hats of the first layer; but they will not come in contact with the leather hatbands on the inside of the latter, this position of the hats being clearly shown by Fig. 10. In practice the height of the collars 10 is two and one-quarter inches, except that the four side collars 11 are slightly higher for reasons previously explained with reference to the collars 5. The purpose of the second sheet of paper 8 is to prevent the lower edges of the collars 10 from resting directly on the brims of the four hats of the first layer, which might cause discoloration of said brims or injury by abrasion. The method of filling the remainder of the box with hats is a repetition of what has just been describedthat is to say, a sheet of paper 7 or 8 is placed on the five hats shown in Fig. 9, four hats are placed in the collars 11, a second sheet of paper is placed over the four hats, and another partition similar to 9 is then inserted, and so on until the box is filled. In practice there will be twelve layers of hats,with nine hats in each layer, or a total of one hundred and eight hats. In each case the second layer of paper 8 may be pasted or glued to the bottom edges of the collars 10 to save additional handling.

While in storage the box 1 is laid on its side, so that each hat will rest independently upon the collar surrounding it. According to the present method of packing hats in bandboxes, if the box containing the bandboxes be laid on its side the hats will rest on the soft rims and be caused to lose their shape. Also the lids of these bandboxes are liable to come off, allowing the hats to fall into positions which will ultimately cause them to lose their shape. 1

While I have described the partitions and collars as being made of pasteboard and the protecting layers of paper, it will be obvious that other materials I may be substituted for these but those named will answer every purpose and are presumably the most economical.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new is l. A crate of the character specified, comprising a receptacle, a plurality of partitions disposed therein and havinghat-receiving collars of different heights projecting beyond both sides thereof, and interposed sheets of flexible material having openings alining with the collars.

2. Apparatus for packing hats comprising a series of superposed partitions each'of which is provided with a number of collars projecting above and below the same, certain of said collars projectinga greater distance above the partition than others, and the collars in each partition serving as the support therefor.

8. Apparatus for packing hats comprising aseries of superposed partitions each of which is provided with a number of collars projecting above and below the same, certain of said collars projecting a greater distance above the partition than others, and the collars in each partition serving as the support therefor, and flexible brim-protecting means.

4. A crate for packing hats comprising a receptacle, a partition having a number of collars secured therein inserted in the receptacle, and adapted to receive a number of' hats having their crowns inserted within certain of said collars, a sheet of material having holes alining with the openings in all of said collars and placed over said hats, whereby a number of hats may have their crowns inserted in theremaining collars and be out of contact with the hats first inserted, and a second partition inserted in said receptacle and having collars alining with those in the first partition, and having hats secured therein in the same manner as above described.

5. A crate for packing hats comprising a re-.

ceptacle, a partition having a number of collars secured therein inserted in the receptacle, and adapted to receive a number of hats having their crowns inserted within certain of said collars, a sheet of material having holes alining with the openings in all of said collars and placed over said hats, whereby a number of hats may have their crowns inserted in the remaining collarsand be out of contact with the hats first inserted, a sheet of material having holes alining with the openings of all of said collars placed over said last-named hats, and a series of partitions having collars alining with those in the first partition and superposed thereon, and having hats secured therein in the same manner as above described.

6. Apparatus for packing hats comprising a partition having a number of collars secured therein and projecting above and below the partition, certain of said collars projecting a greater distance above the partition than others, and a sheet of suitable material, as paper, provided with openings equal in number to and adapted to aline with the openings in said collars.

7. Apparatus for packing hats comprising a partition having a number of collars secured therein and projecting above and below the partition, a second partition having a like number of collars secured therein in a similar manner, but being of a less depth than said firstnamed collars, and a number'of sheets of a suitable material, as paper, provided with openings equal in number to, and adapted to aline with the openings in, the collars of said partitions.

8. Apparatus for packing hats comprising a partition having a number of collars secured therein and projecting above and below the partition, certain of said collars projecting a greater distance above the partition than others, aplurality of partitionshaving alike number of collars secured therein in a similar man ner but being of a less depth than said firstnamed collars, certain of said collars projecting a greater distance above said partitions than the others, and a number of sheets of suitable material, as paper, provided with openings equal in number to and adapted to aline with the openings in, the collars of all of said partitions.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LETITIA E. STEWART.

Witnesses:

MARK LOWE, E. E. RowLnT'r. 

